Matthew de Lacey Davidson • Stolen Music: Acoustic and Electronic Works

Last month I reviewed Matthew de Lacey Davidson’s double album The Graceful Ghost. This month my focus is on another multi-disc set issued by Davidson in 2024: Stolen Music, featuring two previously released discs of Davidson’s original compositions (sixteen works in all) and a third “bonus” disc (more on that soon). As befits the project’s title (taken from Davidson’s piece for solo flute), Stolen Music is quite eclectic; the works contained therein are influenced by musics originating from all around the globe. Much of the material contained within these works was obtained via the transcription of folk music by Davidson and others. For instance, I Had Five Long Years for string quartet (performed by the Solaris String Quartet) is based on a Louisiana prison song, with individual sections sounding more akin to the string music of Shostakovich and Webern. Magyar Rondo for solo viola (played by Rudolf Haken) is Hungarian. The album’s titular piece is a three movement suite for solo flute of melodies from Appalachia, Africa, and Afghanistan, played by Lisa Goethe-McGinn. The booklet which accompanies the CD set lists the various contributing performers and sources of transcription. Four of the pieces in Stolen Music (The Minute Passacaglia, #5, Signor Grinderino, and Between the Lines) were created via the manipulation of electronic magnetic tape, a technique pioneered b